[Nightingale]

Anyway, the older children decided to stay in Kansas and try and keep the farm going but sent my grandmother, and two of her sisters, back to Indiana to live. They were taken in by relatives and friends of the family.
My grandmother got married fairly young. Her first pregnancy was twins, born with physical problems that resulted in their death. One died at birth, the other seven months later.
Her husband died a year after my mom was born. He was only 44...grandma was in her late thirties. He left a family of four children for her to care for. Their farm was small but apparently adequate to keep them alive.
She never dated or remarried in all those years and she lived to be 87.

Anyway, it was so strange and touching to read all of the details of her life. Some of it I knew in sketchy terms, but most was new information for me.

I don't know why, but I cried for a long time after I read her story. I think I just remember how cheerful and strong she always seemed to be.
Now that I am a woman, I wonder how she got through all of those lonely years without her husband. It must have been hard to raise the kids and not have any support or anyone to lean on.